October 30, 2010

Agnes Higgins from a Glass Plate Negative

“Married at St. Augustine Church in Chilton, on Monday, May 13, 1884, Mr. James Flaherty of this city to Miss Agnes Higgins, daughter of James Higgins, Esq., of Chilton Town. After the ceremonies, the happy couple bid farewell to their relatives and numerous friends and took the train for Minneapolis, Minn., where they will begin to fight the battle of life together. This couple have been brought up in our midst and have always stood very high in society. The Times wishes them success in their new home.” –The Chilton [Wisconsin] Times, May 17, 1884.

The witnesses at the wedding were Frances McGrath and Anna Flaherty, James us the son of Michael and Mary Carey Flaherty. Agnes is the daughter of James and Maria Forkin Higgins. Prior to her marriage, Agnes was a teacher in Calumet County.

October 7, 2010

James Henry McCole (1860-1942), son of Cornelius and Catherine Higgins McCole, was born at the McCole farm in Brant (Chilton), Wisconsin. Soon after his marriage to Mary Nolan in 1887, he homesteaded in Tilden, Antelope County, Nebraska, where he had five children. His fourth child, Cornelius Ambrose married Audrey Acrea and lived in Idaho where their son Paul, above, was born in 1917. Cornelius died later that year.

The picture above was probably taken in Twin Falls, ID, about the time of Cornelius’s death.

Audrey Acrea McCole subsequently married Millard F. Shuford and moved to Oklahoma (1930 Census) and Paul took the surname Shuford.

August 19, 2010

John Higgins

John Higgins (1875-1962), son of Thomas and Catherine McKenna Higgins, grandson of Thomas and Margaret Lannon Higgins, was born at Brothertown, Calumet County, Wisconsin. He moved to Montana early in the 20th Century and in 1930 was a stock rancher in Powder River County. Here he is shown with hides of wolves he has shot and two black cats. Powder River County, named for the gunpowder color of the river banks, is today largely rangeland. John seems not to have married.

May 17, 2010

Five of Six Braheny Sisters

Six daughters and two sons were born to Patrick and Mary McCole Braheny. In this photograph, probably from the late 1930s, are shown Sr. M. Ignatia, SP, and Sr. M. Genevieve, SP. The others are three of the four: Kathleen Braheny Hayes, Florence Braheny Moran, Millie Braheny, and Edna Braheny Cloud. The two religious were members of the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary of the Woods, Terre Haute, Indiana. All the Brahenys were all born in Chicago between 1875 and 1894.

May 14, 2010

St. Augustine’s Cenetery, Chilton, Wisconsin

John McCole (sometimes McCoale), son of William and Catherine Lyons McCole of Ballykilduff, near Glenties/Ardara, Co. Donegal, Ireland, arrived in the United States in 1868 and headed to Chilton to the farm of his uncle, Patrick McCole. He became a merchant, keeping a general store in Chilton for most of his life. He married Mary (Minnie) Harlow at St. Augustine’s Church on October 7, 1872. They had six children, Hugh the only one to remain, unmarried, in Chilton. Their only daughter, Kathleen, became Sr. Lucille Marie of the Sisters of Providence of Terre Haute, Indiana. Of their other sons, John (Jack) and Francis (Frank), married Mary Elizabeth Casey and Sarah Casey, respectively, and lived in Mason City, Iowa; James William and Patrick Bernard married Katherine P. Curran and Margaret Moriarty, respectively, and lived in Chicago.

April 23, 2010

Mary McCole and Patrick Braheny

Wedding Portrait, about 1874

Mary McCole (c. 1850-c. 1930), daughter of William McCole and Catherine Lyons of County Donegal, near Ardara, came to America to the Chilton, Wisconsin, farm of her uncle, Patrick McCole, about 1870. She married Patrick Braheny, a tailor, and lived in Chicago, in 1900 at 453 Colorado Avenue, on the west side near Ashland Avenue and Jackson Boulevard. They had nine children, Kathleen, James, Florence, William, Milly, Mary, Genevieve, John and Edna.

Their son James married Margaret Lillian Carroll. Here is the announcement of their wedding from the Chilton Times:

July 1, 1905

On Wednesday morning June 28th, at St. Mary’s church Appleton, at 7:30 o’clock occurred the marriage of Mr. James J. Braheny, of Chicago, and Miss Daisy Carroll, of Appleton, Rev. Father Fitzmaurice officiated.
The bride was attired in a traveling gown of champagne voile over taffeta and was attended by Miss Genevieve Carroll who wore French organdy and carried the bride’s bouquet of daisies. Mr Frank McCole, of Chicago, attended the groom. Mr. and Mrs. Braheny left on Wednesday for a two weeks’ trip to the Chain-o-Lakes, after, which they will make their home at 752 Augusta St., Chicago. Both the groom and bride are favorably known in Chilton, they having visited here frequently. The latter is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Carroll formerly of this city. The Times offers congratulations.

April 17, 2010

Far right: Susanna McCole McCauley O’Hara (1848-1936), a daughter of William McCole and Catherine Lyons, Ballykilduff near Ardara, Donegal. Susanna married Hugh McCauley and had six children, James, Katie, Mary, William, Hugh, and Patrick. After Hugh died in Pennsylvania, she joined her brothers Patrick and Con in Nebraska. There she married Dennis O’Hara, father of her last son, Felix O’Hara, and lived near Hastings.

Far left: Katie McCauley Gouldie (b. 1878), Susanna’s daughter.

Center: Irene Gouldie (b. 1902).

Top: Probably Cassie McCole Herron, Susanna’s sister. Cassie taught school in Red Cloud, Nebraska, not far from her brothers’ farm. She later taught at Lincoln and then Omaha, Nebraska.

This photograph was made in Nebraska about 1905. The original is in the possession of Clarence McCauley, grandson of Susanna.